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A sense of suppressed excitement was palpable among the 300 studentswho had gathered at St Xavier's College, Mumbai, to listen to President Barack Obama on Sunday morning. "This is our chance to interact with the most powerful man in the world," was the common refrain as the invited students queued up to be fixed well before the appointed time.

Obama came, spoke, and won many hearts with his warmth and forthrightness. But did he satisfy the students with his answers? The ones who asked the President the questions didn't seem very happy. "On some subjects he was diplomatic," Anam Ansari of St Xavier's, who asked the President about his take on jihad, said. "Like on Afghanistan, he came up with stock answers, for I do believe that unlike what he said, USA is in Afghanistan and Iraq for its own interests," she said.

But the students were delighted to quiz the world's most powerful head of state. And though they looked suitably impressed, they did not seem overawed.

"We as students could ask him questions that journalists have not," said Rushva Parishar, a second- year management student of Jai Hind College, exuding the confidence of the new generation that the President and First Lady Michelle Obama spoke about so glowingly. The students were selected for the town hall-style meeting based on their academic record, extra-curricular activities and community service.

The star of the day, of course, was Afsheen Irani, a second-year management student of H.R. College of Commerce, who asked the cracker question of the day - the one on Pakistan. She had the media contingent swarming around her, and others congratulating her for the sharply articulated question. "It was not my original question," Irani said. "I had intended to ask him about his education policy."

Romit Mehta of St Xavier's questioned the President on Afghanistan because his father had worked on a World Bank project there and the subject kept cropping up at home. "I agree with the President that if the US withdraws, it could be more dangerous for Afghanistan, with the Taliban taking over."

The President's AfPak talk may not have won him much political support in the gathering, but on a personal level, the entire audience was touched by him. "He was down to earth, humble and brilliant," Dhruv Khopkar of H.R. College of Commerce said.

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